5 TV Shows That Won't Return Until 2021

Titans

DC Universe's Titans saw a sharp increase in quality during its second season, as a stronger central narrative, a much better villain and a more optimistic tone all worked in its favour, allowing it to hold its own with some of the streaming service's better-received originals. And all of that made fans even more excited for the third season.

While network shows tend to return to screens towards the end of September/beginning of October, both seasons of Titans usually premiere on the streamer a little earlier, arriving in the first week of September. The-powers-that-be were able to make that work because the show's production began at least seven months prior to the premiere date on both occasions. Unfortunately, production on the third season hasn't even got the chance to kick off yet.

With everything happening right now, the cast and crew are waiting on the go-ahead to start filming Season 3. If they get given the green light soon, there's a slight chance they may be able to fast-track things and get the season on screens before the end of the year, but given the whole seven-eight month gap before airing thing, it's more likely to debut at the beginning of next year instead.

Locke & Key

Locke and Key was one of Netflix's earliest new arrivals of 2020 and it didn't take long for it to become one of its most successful. Based on the IDW comic series of the same name, it stars Connor Jessup, Emilia Jones and Jackson Robert Scott as a trio of siblings who move to their late father's childhood home along with their grieving mother (Darby Stanchfield) and its 10-episode run delved into family secrets, shocking truths and a world of things that should be impossible. Though its tone went a little off-balance more than a few times, the show opened a compelling wormhole that will undoubtedly reel viewers back in for its second season.

As for when that second offering will arrive? Well, that remains to be seen. But given that Season 1 arrived earlier this year - and everything that has happened with virtually every Hollywood production since - don't expect to see Locke & Key return until spring next year at the earliest.

American Horror Story

The truth is that we could place American Horror Story under any genre because it wears so many hats that it's basically a little bit of everything at this point. And while we don't know anything about the tenth season of Ryan Murphy's horror anthology series yet (aside from a few of those cryptic clues Murphy has been dropping), we do know that it has been officially delayed until 2021.

In previous years, the FX show would usually be one of the first annual TV shows to return to our screens, arriving in early-mid September and running through until the few weeks before or the few weeks after Christmas. Unfortunately, that won't be the case this year as the current world events and the shutdown has prevented filming from taking place.

Nonetheless, this might give Murphy the chance to come up with an even more innovative method of revealing the theme of the season to fans.

The Witcher

Though more fantasy than sci-fi, Netflix's The Witcher does lean into occasional science fiction elements and that - and the fact that this list would have felt incomplete without it - is more than enough to earn it a spot on here.

The show tantalized viewers with its jaw-dropping visuals (and no, we're not just talking about the sight of Henry Cavill looking like he's etched of bloody stone when bringing Geralt of Rivia to life) and well-developed characters, and even though it didn't quite reach the highs of its the source material, that's okay considering it was starting out with only eight episodes.

Its overwhelming success made it a shoe-in for renewal at the streaming service, but that was irrelevant because it had already been renewed before the first season dropped. Though it was initially believed that it would arrive at the end of the year, Netflix later confirmed that it would drop in 2021 instead.

Filming was halted in March, but it's now expected to resume in August and, theoretically, that shouldn't have interfered with the streamer's plans too much (given that a 2021 release was always the plan).

Stranger Things

It's been a little over a year since Stranger Things' third season graced Netflix, but that doesn't mean you should be expecting the show to return in the immediate future.

One of the perks of streaming services offering up their own original content is that they don't have to stick to a rigid TV schedule like broadcast networks when it comes to airing shows. Stranger Things is a prime example of this as the second season didn't arrive until over a year after its first, while the third season dropped nearly two years after that.

Though it seemed like the fourth season might follow in the second's footsteps and drop in Halloween of this year, that's no longer a possibility given the shutdown. The good news is that the show was ahead of its production schedule when the shutdown occurred, so provided things can resume soon, it wouldn't be surprising if Stranger Things 4 dropped in the first half of 2021.